The Newlyweds Game
by Person95
Summary: After Max and Fang make a mistake of pretending to be married to stop the flirtatious glances, they get roped into playing in the game show "The Newlyweds Game"
1. Chapter 1

**The Newlywed Game**

The stars shown brightly- illuminating Fang so that he looked like an angel. We were lying together, looking up at the stars when he turned and looked at me. When I turned my head so our eyes met, he smiled that heart stopping smile at me.

"What?" I asked breathlessly.

"You're beautiful," he whispered. I couldn't help the blush that crept up my cheeks. Before I said something I knew I would regret, Fang beat me to it. "I love you."

Thousands of thoughts passed through my head- including the idea of running away and hiding from him. Silently, I weighed the options of telling him how I feel and then getting hurt, and the option of running away and possibly ruining every chance I ever had with him.

"I love you too," I finally said.

"Max?" he asked, sounding vaguely like Nudge. "Max, wake up. I want to ask you something." Now I knew for certain he sounded like Nudge, I also knew I was sleeping.

"Stop," I mumbled to the ever persistent Nudge, while throwing my arm over my eyes.

"But Max," Nudge whined, "I need to ask you something!" Hopelessly I tried to go back to my dream, but it was a desperate attempt that was useless. After another second of trying, I moved my arm and got up. I noticed with a sense of jealousy that I was the only flock member awake- other then Nudge.

"What is it Nudge?" I asked.

"Can we stop at the closest town and eat at a restaurant- not like the one in New York, cause that place was horrible and we didn't even get to eat!" I put my head in my hands and thought about it. On one hand, I knew going out to eat might cause unwanted attention like it did in New York, but if it wasn't as fancy as the last restaurant that might not happen...

Eh, why not. "Sure Nudge, but I get veto power. If I don't want to eat at a restaurant we won't- no questions asked."

"Thank you Max!" Nudge yelled- succeeding in waking up the rest of the flock.

"Wha's goin' on?" The Gasman asked groggily.

"We're going out to eat!" Nudge screamed.

"I think you just shattered my ear drums," Iggy muttered, "and trust me, you do not want a blind, deaf, bird kid on your hands."

"Are we really?" Fang asked after walking up to me.

I nodded my head grimly, now wishing I had just said no.

Even though Angel nodded at me with an apologetic look, she squealed right along with Nudge. "Maybe afterwards we can go shopping!" Nudge said excitedly.

"No," I said. "I draw the line at going out to eat." From the corner of my eye I saw Fang smirk. _Why couldn't that dream be real?_ "Now lets get moving. We're pretty close to L.A. and if we start flying now, we should be able to make it for breakfast."

After a few groans (Iggy and Gazzy) and a lot of talking (Nudge and Angel) we finally got in the air. We flew for about a half hour when we started to notice shining buildings and thousands of people. I instantly started regretting my decision because crowds meant claustrophobia and claustrophobia meant a extra paranoid bird-kid. Fang- seeming to feel my distress- flew above me, just close enough that I could feel his presence and not feel crowded.

Right when my fear started to dissipate, Nudge decided she found the restaurant she wanted to eat at. I couldn't find any reason not to and we landed behind it- carefully hidden by the smelly dumpsters.

"Oh, Max! This is going to be great!" Nudge said. "Thank you sooo much!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, let's get this over with." Fang chuckled next to me and grabbed my hand.

As we walked in to the restaurant- Nudge and Angel leading with me and Fang at the end, Iggy and Gazzy were stuck in between us- a boy who was twenty-ish ignored the hand holding between me and Fang and gazed up and down my body.

Now, I have never really thought of myself as attractive- most of the time, that was the last thing on my mind- but recently I had started thinking about stuff like that, and let me tell you, if I saw me, no way would I ever check me out. My hair was in a greasy ponytail- successfully keeping the nasty hair out of my eyes-, I haven't taken a bath since God-knows-when and I know for certain that my ripped shirt and jeans were not in fashion. So why the heck was this guy _checking me out?_

Fang's hand tightened on mine as he saw a flirty smile pass on the guys face- his eyes were places I'd rather them not be, too. "Hel-lo," the guy said, his eyes were going lower and lower. I tend to think of myself as smart... ish so it was easy to see that if I didn't do something now, that guy wouldn't last much longer in this world- either I would kill him or Fang would- so I did the only thing I could do thinking so short notice.

I put one of my rings on my left hand's fourth finger. When his eyes were going up, I showed him my hand and mouthed, "Married." Now, he seemed to realize that I was standing next to Fang and immediately his mouth went in an O. He blushed and walked us over to our table not taking his eyes of his feet.

After we sat down Fang looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "What? It was the only thing I could think of!" I defended. He chuckled and took one of his rings and put if on his left hand's fourth finger.

Before I could ask Fang what he was doing, Iggy scowled and asked, "What's going on?"

I heard Nudge giggle and whisper to Iggy, who then broke out into a grin. "Why Fang, why didn't you tell me you and Max got married?"

While I was thinking of a classic Max response Fang responded coolly. "It didn't come up until now." Gazzy cackled and made several glares come our way... but one person was staring at me and Fang with an interest. It looked to be a women who was in their late thirties, with red hair and too white teeth. When she smiled and started to walk over to us I got all panicky and tried to look for an escape root that would get us out without to much of a commotion. Why did I agree to this? How come this always happened to us? Would it kill the School to let us eat just one meal in peace?

Before I had successfully thought out a plan (i.e. we were still in the booth) the lady came up to us and said, "So you two are married?"

"Yep," Fang replied smiling politely.

She nodded and continued smiling. "How long?"

"Not that long." Nudge giggled.

"So you two are newlyweds?"

"Yes..." What was she trying to get at?

"Would you say that you two know each other well?"

"With out a doubt." Iggy snorted across the table.

"How would you guys feel about winning a lot of money?"

"That would be wonderful," I answered, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

Either she didn't notice or she didn't care. "Then how would you two feel about going on 'The Newlywed Game'?"


	2. I Can't Believe I'm Doing This

**I Can't Believe I'm Doing This**

"'The Newlywed Game?'" Angel asked, a confused look on her face. "What's that?"

"It doesn't matter," I said, "because we won't be on the show."

"Max," Fang said. "Let's just hear her out, _then _we can decide whether we want to do it or not." While I bit my tongue, glared, and silently seethed, Fang gave her the go ahead and she started talking.

"The Newlywed Game is a game where three newlyweds compete to win $25,000 and gifts. You earn money and gifts merely by knowing your spouse. First the men go into another room while the women are asked questions that they have to answer. After all questions are answered the men come out and have to guess what the women answered. Then we switch. You can get money just by answering the questions correctly. If you have the highest score you go to the golden round, where you go against another winner from a pervious game- generally one where the people have been married a while. If you win, you get all the $25,000 and the perks they offer you. Since you two know each other so well, this game should be easy... So what do you think?"

"No," I said while Fang said, "Okay."

"Can I talk to you for a minute, honey?" I asked with fake sweetness.

"Of course, dear," Fang mimicked. I heard Gazzy laughing along with Angel.

When we were out of site I turned and whisper-screamed, "What the hell?!" Which earned me a disproving glance from Fang.

"Why shouldn't we? We've known each other our whole lives, we're practically married, and you know we could use the money."

I knew Fang was right about the money part, recently we had to leave Total and Akila at my mom's house because we couldn't afford to keep feeding them- Angel cried for a week-, and we did know each other better then we probably knew ourselves... but I still wondered about one thing. "What do you mean we're practically married?"

Fang just rolled his eyes, but couldn't keep the blush from creeping up his neck. "Do I really need to tell you Max? We rely on each other all the time- like a married couple-, one's weakness is the others strength, we practically raised the flock, we talk to each other all the time, and Iggy has told me multiple times that we argue like an old married couple."

"Does he really?" I asked before remembering what we were originally talking about. "But you forgot one important detail about the show."

"What?"

"We're fourteen!"

"No, you're fifteen and I'm fourteen."

"That doesn't matter!" I threw my hands up in the air. "We're still younger then eighteen."

"Yeah, but _they_ don't know that."

"What happens if the School looks and finds us on T.V?"

"Then we run, just like we always do." He put his hands on my shoulders and made me look him in the eyes. "What's the worst that could happen?" I shot him a answering glare and he flinched. "Okay, bad question."

His eyes looked hopeful, and for the first time in a long time, happy. "God," I muttered, "I can't believe I'm going to do this." His smile was enough to remind me and the kiss was enough to make me forget.

While I wrapped my arms around his neck and placed my hands in his hair, his hands were constantly moving up and down my back with one hand permanently massaging my neck with his calloused fingers. Before I was quite ready, he pulled away and rested his forehead on mine, his finger's played with my hair- making it quite hard to think. "So, how are you doing Mrs. Ride?"

"I'm doing a lot better now." He grinned and gave me another kiss- this one was short- before he put on a blank mask and dragged me back to the table where Ms. Smiley was still smiling- only now she had a cup of coffee. Why did I think that was a bad idea?

"We'll do it," Fang told her after we got back in the booth, "but only if our family can come with us." She smiled bigger (if possible) and nodded.

"Just let me get the information so you can read more about it."

When she walked off Iggy turned to Fang and asked, "How did you get Max to change her mind?"

"I have my ways," Fang said, putting Iggy's hand on his lips so he could feel the smile.

"Yeah," I said before Iggy could get any ideas. "It's called Logic."

But I think I was too late because Iggy just smiled a knowing smile and said, "Right, and I'm a girl."

Before I could say that sarcastic comment on the tip of my tongue, Ms. Smiley came back with the info. "Okay, it says here that it's in New York, New York, so we are going to have to fly out there- but I can handle that. You need to sign here basically agreeing that we can use the footage in our show, and here which it says that if you get hurt, it's not our fault, and here agreeing to do what we ask when it has to do with the show."

Fang signed quickly and passed the pen and paper over to me. Before I could sign, I saw that Fang signed, _Adam Ride. _With a smirk, I signed beneath him with the name _Susan Ride. _I made sure he saw it before giving it back to Ms. Smiley who was talking about shopping and haircuts.

"We're going to be in a hotel tonight, and then tomorrow we can get you two some new clothes and some haircuts."

"Can we come too?" Nudge asked.

"Of course, I don't see why not." While Nudge was squealing in excitement I was arguing about the shopping.

"We are not going shopping."

"Don't worry, I'll pay."

"Why do you even want us to go shopping?"

"Because right now you all look like homeless models." I couldn't disagree with her there. Then she looked at Fang closely and I saw her smile slip. "We have some work to do with this one," she muttered. so quietly we weren't supposed to hear. When Fang scowled she put her smile back up. "I don't think I've introduced myself yet, I'm Nora Plum, one of the producers of the show."

Fang smiled and said, "Now let us introduce ourselves. I'm Adam, this is my wife Susan, her brother," he nodded at Iggy, "Chris, her younger brother," he looked at Gazzy- who noticed Fang was talking about him and smiled-, "Dave, and their youngest sibling, Cassie." Angel waved. "Here we have my adopted sister, Nikkie."

"It's nice to meet all of you, now come one, I've got the perfect hotel that we can all stay at."

Then she proceeded to drag us out of the restaurant and I faintly heard Nudge mutter, "And we didn't even eat yet." But I had bigger problems to work out. Like how were Fang and I supposed to pretend to be married?

_Why don't you hold his hand?_ the Voice asked, and for the first time I did exactly what the Voice suggested without a second thought. The look on Gazzy's face- head tilted, tongue out, and eyes closed- was enough to make me laugh.


	3. What have I gotten myself into?

**What have I gotten myself into?**

The ride to the hotel was uneventful, except for the fact that Ms. Smily wouldn't stop smiling, we had five hungry bird who wanted to eat at every restaurant they saw- myself not included, I wanted to just get to the hotel and sleep-, a huge traffic jam, and movie studio "we just _had_ to see".

The movie studio was great, since we were with Ms. Smiley who had an on again off again with one of the tour guides. When we were on the personal tour we saw several movie stars (okay, one stunt man) who smiled and waved. I swear Nudge was about to faint when a producer winked at her.

By the time we got to the hotel it was dark and the Gasman was asleep in Iggy's arms. After I entered the hotel I immediately felt self-conscious of every thing I did. Inside the hotel were men wearing suits and women wearing the latest fashions. I swear I saw someone roll their eyes at me.

Before we got up to the front desk Ms. Smiley turned to me and said, "Let me do all the talking." She paused before walking forward with a very big grin on her face.

"How many rooms do you want?" the concierge asked, ignoring the smile that Ms. Smiley was giving him.

"Six," she answered. "All with one bed, but can one room have a queen sized bed?"

The concierge typed quickly into the computer before looking up. "I need to have a credit card on file incase..." he looked at us, "...anything gets ruined."

"Oh, sure." She handed him her credit card and when he returned it he also gave her six room keys.

After she passed out room keys Fang spoke up and asked, "Where's my room key?"

She turned to him and answered, "You're going to be sharing with Susan." Fang must have been tired because he didn't seem to realize that Susan was my fake name. When Ms. Smiley noticed his confusion she added worriedly, "Your wife?"

"Yeah," I said. "Your wife!"

Fang just looked at Ms. Smiley and said, "We usually call her Max- that's all."

"I'll keep that in mind, now all you, get to bed! We're going to meet her at eight o'clock tomorrow to go shopping- I expect all of you to be ready and have a good nights sleep." Then with that Ms. Smiley exited the lobby and went into the elevators.

"Ms. Plum is right," I said. "All of you should go to your rooms and get a good nights sleep."

With that we all walked up the stairs and went into our separate hotel rooms after stacking our hands. What I saw was enough to stop me where I stood.

"_One_ bed? _One?"_

"Well, yeah. We _are_ pretending to be married," Fang answered calmly. "Oh, and I would like it if you took a bath or shower before getting into bed."

"How can you be so calm about this?"

"Because it isn't a big deal. It's not like were going to do anything inappropriate."

While I narrowed my eyes at him he shrugged off his wind breaker and let his wings free a bit. "Do you want first shower or should I have it?" I asked.

"I'll take first shower." And with that he disappeared into the bathroom. After I heard the shower head turn on I looked around the room. In the closet there were two robes and slippers, a few hangers and a safe. The was a bible in under the T.V. and a balcony connected to the window.

I was on the balcony when I felt a prickling feeling on the back of my neck and arms around my waist.

"Your turn," he whispered. I leaned back into him and looked at the sky above us for a moment. Then I untangled myself from his arms and walked into the bathroom. First I ran myself a bath and when the water was so dirty you couldn't see through it, I got up and took a shower, washing my hair and body in the process. I came out wearing my P.J.s that my mom had given my before we left.

When I came out Fang was in bed with the T.V. on. The lights were off so the T.V. was the only light source I had while walking over to the bed. I tell you this, so when you hear that I tripped over the corner of the bed, you know it wasn't my fault.

"Are you okay?" Fang asked, sitting up straighter in bed.

"Yeah. I'm fine." My toe hurts like heck, but I'm fine. This time when I walk over to the bed, I make it their with no more accidents.

After I sit down in bed, Fang wraps his arms around me and puts my head under his chin. For the next half hour we watch 'The Newlyweds Game' and let me tell you, we are going to _dominate_ that show. The whole show is really based on just _knowing _your spouse- and Fang and I have known each other our whole lives.

When the clock strikes eleven Fang turns the T.V. off and we try to sleep. But right before I go off into my perfect sleep Fang puts his arms around me and snuggles closer. That was the best sleep I had in a long time. If this is what marriage is all about, I could get used to it.

* * *

When I woke up, I was alone. After a few moments of discombobulated searching, I found Fang outside on the balcony.

"This really is a nice view," Fang said.

"I know." When I stood next to him he pointed at the building in front of us.

"Third floor fifth window to the right. The man that works there is going to propose to his girlfriend- who he has only known for three weeks- tonight at Louise's Italian Restaurant. Tenth floor first window of the right. They're planning a wedding between two people who don't love each other. Top floor third window on the left. The guy in their is having an affair with his secretary."

"How do you know all this and why does it matter?"

"Simple observations, and how can you not see how it matters? There is all three stages of an unhappy marriage in there. The proposal, the wedding, the affair. I don't want us to act like that couple."

"What do you propose then?"

"More public displays of affection."

I couldn't help the snort that came out of my nose. "I bet you _would_ like that."

"Max," Fang said with a disapproving glance. "I'm not saying 'let's make out', just a kiss here and there."

"And there's nothing else?" I asked skeptically.

"Maybe some hand-holding, whispering-in-the-ear, and compliments."

"First of all, when did you get all chatty? Second of all, you've really thought this through."

Another disapproving glance. "Today, when I watched the lawyer make-out with his secretary while a picture of his son and wife were hanging on the wall, and yes, I have. I want people to watch the show and _want _what we have, and in order to do that, I think a little kissing is necessary."

Damn him and his logic. "Fine," I said with a huff.

When he smiled, I knew something bad was going threw his head. "Now how about a little practice?" _What have I gotten myself into?_


	4. The Makeover

_**Previously on 'The Newlywed Game'.**_

_Another disapproving glance. "Today, when I watched the lawyer make-out with his secretary while a picture of his son and wife were hanging on the wall, and yes, I have. I want people to watch the show and_ want_ what we have, and in order to do that, I think a little kissing is necessary."_

_Damn him and his logic. "Fine," I said with a huff._

_When he smiled, I knew something bad was going threw his head. "Now how about a little practice?"_ What have I gotten myself into?

**The Makeover**

We were going downstairs to meet Ms. Smiley when Fang stopped me. "Max, you need to calm down. You're was too stressed."

With a aggravated sigh, I said sarcastically, "How can you tell?"

"Well, for one thing, your shoulders are tense, your eyes are narrowed and you're clutching my hand like a drowning man clutching a life vest."

I glared at him- watching his eyes go down to our entwined hands, which I was still clutching 'like a drowning man clutching a life vest.' In a huff I dropped his hand and finished walking down the stairs. Fang's footsteps were silent as he followed me, yet I could feel his presence behind me like a weight.

As we were walking across the lobby to meet Ms. Smiley, Fang reached over and grabbed my hand. "What do you think you are doing?" I hissed at him, trying- unsuccessfully- to retake my hand from his grasps.

"Did you not hear a word I just said up in the room?" Fang hissed back. "Think 'happy couple'."

"This couple isn't happy!" I whispered, giving up my frivolous attempt at getting my hand back and settling at just glaring at him.

"Well!" Ms. Smiley's voice snaps my attention to her. "Looks like the Newlyweds finally decided to grace us with their presence!" When Ms. Smiley put her hands on her hips and tried- desperately- to look intimidating, I almost forgot about my anger at Fang. _Almost,_ but not quite enough.

"I specifically told you to be down here at eight! Eight! Can anyone tell me what time it is now?"

"8:10," Nudge answered in the same position as Ms. Smiley, only managing to be more intimidating.

After a few seconds of just staring at each other, Iggy- completely oblivious to the stare fest going on- said, "Well, why are we still standing here?"

With a humph, Ms. Smiley turned on her heal and walked towards the waiting limo out front. We all followed, Fang and I in the back. When Ms. Smiley couldn't see me, I turned to Fang and rolled my eyes.

* * *

By the time we got to the Mall, Nudge had managed to get Angel as hyper as she was, Gazzy and Iggy had successfully fallen asleep again, and Ms. Smiley had re-applied make-up to her whole face.

"We're here," I said, lightly tapping Iggy and Gazzy on the hand.

"Great," Iggy muttered.

"Hey," I whispered to him while dragging him out of the car. "I don't want to be here any more then you do, so suck it up!"

After we had gotten in the store, Ms. Smiley stopped us and announced, "Fang and Max will come with me. Everyone else will go on their own." I stared at her- eye's practically bugging out of my head.

"You're just going to let them go?" I asked disbelieving.

"Yep. I have my hands full with you two. I don't need three others- not including Nikkie, because she is the only one of you who doesn't look like they got dressed in the dark. Now you two," she said, pointing at Fang and I, "come with me."

Before she dragged us away, I managed to tell everyone to _act normal. _Fang wrapped an arm around my shoulders when I started tensing up, making paranoid glances around us, he started massaging my neck when I still didn't relax.

After I finally relaxed, Fang smirked, and moved his hand from my neck to my waist. We seemed to walk around the whole store before we finally stopped outside a hair salon.

"The good news is, I had a thing with the owner of this place, and he owes me, so this will be free," Ms. Smiley whispers to us. She pushed opened the doors and walked in like she owned the place- which depending on how big 'he owes' her, she might. But when I walked in I was not expecting strobe lights, glow in the dark hand prints on the wall, and blaring techno music.

Model's wielding scissors and sporting stylish haircuts we're walking around in heals the size of my head-except for the males who wore their shirts and pants a few sizes to small.

One of the male models walked up to Ms. Smiley and kissed both her cheeks. "Nora, it's so great to see you again. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well. Although these two have given me a few gray hairs."

"Hm... I can see how..." His eyes fleetingly took in our forms, landing on our hair- where he did not try to hide the disgust from his eyes. "We have some work to do with you..." he whispered- quiet enough people who were not mutants could hear- looking at me. My hands involuntarily clenched into fists, I didn't even notice until Fang's hand moved from my waist to my clenched hand.

"You look beautiful, no matter what anyone says," he whispered so quietly in my ear, I wasn't even sure I heard it. But it seemed to have the result he was hoping for; my hands loosened from the fists and he managed a kiss before a male and female model showed up in front of us.

"Hello," the brown haired women said, speaking to me. "I'm Anjanette, and I will be your hair stylist for today."

"And I'm Daniel," he said looking at Fang. "I will be cutting your hair." Then they dragged us to chairs on opposite sides of the place.

"Don't move," Anjanette started, "and everyone will be happy."

* * *

After what seemed like an hour- but was probably more like 15 minutes- my haircut was done. I have no idea what it's called, only that it managed to make me look girly. I _told_ Fang this was a bad idea. Fang's haircut was not much better- ideal for a T.V. show, but not ideal (or practical) for flying. Although the haircuts made us each look like supermodels (Well, Fang in any case, I tried to look in the mirror as least as possible) it was not good enough for Ms. Smiley.

"You each need new clothes. At least one outfit for the show... Maybe two since you will have a photo shoot... Oh, I can't wait to shop for you Adam!" Ms. Smiley had been going on and on about the outfits we needed. At first I had tried to keep up with her- telling her what I would and would not wear- but gave up when she almost attacked a women because the women wouldn't give up a stupid pair of shoes you can't even walk in without major blisters.

The first person we had shopped for was me since Ms. Smiley "had the perfect outfit for me". Turns out that outfit wasn't so perfect since it evolved high heals, a tight shirt, and a short skirt. After a long debate we finally settled for five $100 jeans (Who spends $100 on jeans?) that were already ripped up, five shirts (each completely different, but the fanciest one I would wear on the show), a jacket, and heals that were two inches off the floor (By some guy named Jimmy Shoe or something). I hate my life.

Now we were shopping for Fang, and I can't wait to pay him back for all those times he laughed (yes, he actually _laughed, _like a belly laugh) when I had to try on a skirt or heals.

"Here we are!" Ms. Smiley announces. "The Men's department." The look on Fang's face was enough to send me into hysterics. Looking at the clothes that surrounded us was enough to wipe the grin off my face.

"Oh sweet mother of Jesus and all things holy," I muttered. Fang nodded grimly in my direction. "It's not too bad Fang. I'm sure they have... something... I mean, what store doesn't have one article of clothing that's black."

"This store," Ms. Smiley said with a smile. "I couldn't find _one _store, I mean, who new black was so popular, so finally I had to pull in a favor from one of my ex's to get rid of all the black clothes."

Instead of Fang getting angry or horrified, his wall of indifference came up. It had taken all of a year for Fang to finally put it down after Jeb left, and now he had just started to act like his old self. I couldn't let that wall go back up, no matter what. I knew what I had to do, and I was so glad that I finally got to do it.

After I gave Fang's hand a quick squeeze, I turned to Ms. Smiley and said "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Okay, if you need to find us we'll be in this area." She grabbed Fang and dragged him over to where the multicolored shirts were hanging.

"Wait!" I called and ran over to her, 'accidentally' bumping into her, meanwhile thanking god Iggy had actually taught me something useful- like how to pick a pocket. "You forgot your kiss," I said to Fang- who looked at me like I was crazy (great self-confidence booster). After a quick kiss I made my escape as soon as possible, but instead of turning to where the bathrooms were I made my way to the other stores (all of which held _tons_ of black clothing).

Only after pulling out Ms. Smiley's wallet (I had successfully managed in stealing not only getting one credit card, but what seemed like 500) and making sure I had plenty of cash, did I start my journey of getting all the black outfits Fang could ever want (okay, I only got him a week worth of clothes, but it was good enough). Plus, I bought him an outfit I thought Nudge would be proud of.

After I paid for all the clothes I made my way over to the store only to remember I now had a shopping bag that I hadn't had before. During the next five minutes I racked my brain for a place to put the bag while Fang shopped. Finally I decided to fly back to the hotel drop the bag of then fly back; all in all it should only take a few minutes when using the super speed.

I ran outside- right in time for the rain storm. "Perfect!" I screamed at the sky- earning me quite the looks. "Fantastic! Great!" Grumbling, I walked behind the building made sure no one was watching, and flew towards the hotel. By the time I walked into the building, I looked like a half-drowned cat, and like a half-drowned cat, I was not happy about it. When one of the staff walked up to me carrying a towel, I glared my special glare I save for whitecoats (I'm pretty sure that staff worker needed a new pair of tidy-whites when I was done with him) and grabbed the towel.

After I had successfully made it to the room and discarded Fang's clothes, I was feeling pretty proud with myself. Of course that meant the world had to do something embarrassing to me. I had reached the bottom of the stairs and was walking across the marble floors when I slipped in a puddle I had made before, and fell on my butt, hitting my head on the cool marble as well. Even though my head was ringing I also heard someone asking me if I was okay and a few people saying that there was blood- they all sounded a mile away though.

When I made no response to them they started probing my head looking for the place I had hit. Before they found it I opened my eyes and saw what looked like the entire hotel standing above me and the one 20-year-old man who was probing the back of my head (let's call him Dr. Prober)

"She's awake!" one of them announced.

"No crap Sherlock," I muttered to myself, but by the way the Dr. Prober was smiling I had a feeling he had heard too.

"How to you feel?" he asked.

"How the heck to you think I feel?" I answered.

When I tried to sit up he protested, "You shouldn't sit up yet. You hit your head pretty hard." With an eye roll I sat up despite his warning. After I sat up I felt something warm and sticky travel down my forehead. I wiped it away and realized it was blood. "It's blood," Dr. Prober told me.

"I know," I hissed back. Thank God the flock wasn't here, they would never let me live this down. My eyes widened in thought. Oh crap, _the Flock_. I completely forgot about them! Fang! I had to get back to him and .

I rushed up to a standing position, cursing all these people around me. Fang must be wondering where I am! I hope he doesn't do anything rash... This is Fang we're talking about, of course he won't do anything rash.

After calming myself I realized just how close Dr. Prober was to me. So close that only a book as thick as _Twilight_ could fit between us.

"I-I uh... I ha-have to g-go," I stuttered, slipping out of the thong of people.

"Hold on," he said. He walked up to me and got the _Twilight_ distance again... heck _Twilight _might not even fit now. After getting a band-aid out and placing it on my forehead wound. He whispered in my ear- in what I suppose was supposed to be a sexy voice, "All done." Then he backed away from me and I escaped out the door, not even risking a glance back.

When I made it to the store- looking like a half drowned cat again- I ran all the way back to Fang's store and marched in, ignoring the looks the workers shot me. I made my way over to where Fang and Ms. Smiley were, my agitation and anger leaving me when I saw Fang's no-emotion expression- suddenly I realized I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

"Hey," I said as I walked up to them.

"What the hell happened to you," Ms. Smiley asked, her horror filled expression changing dramatically to a smile when she looked up to my face. Fang's expression was filled with wide eyes and a shocked look.

"What?" I asked. All that happened was Fang and Ms. Smiley elbowing each other. "What is it?" I asked again.

"She's _your_ wife," Ms. Smiley muttered to Fang.

"What, what is it?" I asked, a feeling of nervousness creeping up on me. Had my wound been worse then I thought and I was missing a huge chunk of skin? Was my hair starting to fall out?

"Max," Fang asked timidly like he wasn't trying to upset me. "Max, honey... Why do you have a Hello Kitty band-aid on your forehead?"

I reached up to where Dr. Prober put the band-aid and pulled it off looking down at it. "I am going to kill him," I muttered so quietly I could barely hear myself. There, in my hands, was a pink Hello Kitty band-aid. After I was done silently seething, I looked Fang directly in the eye and said, "You so owe me." Then I walked past him sticking the band aid on his black t-shirt.

___---___---___---___---___---___---___---

_I'm sorry it took me so long to update! I had to go on a trip with my best friend and while I was gone my younger brother, Will, decided he would delete all the chapters I had of every story I wrote. The good news is I got back at him with a taste of his own medicine so he probably won't do this again. I made it extra long for you guys just because!_


	5. Great Timing

**Great Timing**

"Max?" Fang called. "Max? You can't stay in there the entire time."

"Watch me," I called back angrily. After the 'Hello Kitty Band-aid' incident, I had run off to the closest bathroom and hid. What can I say, Erasers? No problem. The idea of thousands of people watching me run around soaking wet with a Hello Kitty band-aid. Please God, kill me now.

"Max," Fang growled.

"So pushy," I muttered unlocking the door. Before I could turn away and walk back to my place beside the sink (I had made that my 'Spot of Shame'), Fang walked in and pulled me into a hug.

Well, this was different. "Uh, Fang?" I asked. In response he held me tighter. "Fang?"

"Mm?"

"Are you okay?" I playfully raised my hand and put it on his forehead.

"Can't I just hug my wife when she decides to run away and hide in the bathroom?"

"First of all, I'm not your wife. Second of all, you don't 'just hug' anybody."

"You may not be my wife, but your still very special to me." I couldn't help the goofy grin from my face. It may not have been 'I love you', but it was pretty darn close.

"You're very special to me too."

Fang smiled that heart stopping smile and kissed me gently. Well, it may have started out gently but next thing we knew, it was a full blown make-out session- I swear that boy has magic lips.

Unfortunately someone- and that someone being Ms. Smiley- decided that now would be the best time to start pounding at the door. "Adam? Max? Is everything alright?"

Instead of Fang backing up, giving me room and letting me answer her like the mature adult I'm acting like, he sucks my special spot- the spot he found that makes me moan like no tomorrow. My answer to Ms. Smiley sounded something like this, "Fineeee- Oh God, Fang!"

Fang was so dead after I got my sense of thought back.

"Oh!" Ms. Smiley said. "Oh! I guess I'll leave you two then!"

I pretended not to feel his smirk against my neck. When he finally pulled back he smiled at my spot and ran his thumb over it.

"You are dead," I said.

"I know, and yet, I wouldn't change a thing." This time when he smiled at me I couldn't help but reach up and brush my fingers over it- my anger forgotten. He raised an eyebrow in response.

"You've been smiling more often," I whispered.

"I haven't noticed," he said back- and not sarcastically either. I moved my hand from his lips to his hair and started to straiten it out best I could. Before I could finish, he caught my hand and brought it back to his lips, where he placed small kisses along the palm. When he looked me directly in the eye, my knees almost gave out.

"Max," he mummered, letting go of my hand and moving his to cup my face. "I didn't tell you the truth before- about being special to me." I could help the tears that sprang to my eyes. "Max, look at me. You're more then special to me. In fact." Heavy sigh here. "Max, I love-"

"Guys, are you done in there yet?" Ms. Smiley asked, pounding on the door again.

Fang groaned and leaned his head against mine. "I'll give her this," he muttered, "she does have impeccable timing."

"Have you been reading the dictionary again?" I question sarcastically, but my heart wasn't in it. Even though I had a feeling what that last word was, I still wanted to hear it said. Fully.

"Guys?"

"Yeah, we're ready to go."

With a sigh from each of us, we opened the door- me with my last minute straitening of the clothes, and Fang trying desperately to get his hair to behave.

When we opened the door, Ms. Smiley was leaning against the wall beside the door. "You two do know, that when you do a quickie, foreplay is not required."

I swear I thought my eyes would pop out of my head- I mean, wasn't the Hello Kitty band-aid enough? Desperately I tried to stutter out an answer, "We- we, no, we-"

"Max," Fang said cutting me off, "we're married. We don't have to be embarrassed." Then he had the nerve to turn to Ms. Smiley and say, "We just want to make love every time while we still can." Then that cheeky son of a gun smiled his 'What else can we say?' smile.

Oh, now he was really dead- and not a quick death either! A slow painful death.

"We'll see how long that lasts," Ms. Smiley muttered to low for human ears- but not for human hybrids (i.e. me and Fang). "Come on you two," she said regular voice, "lets finish up in the store and met the others in the cafeteria."

After a few minutes of walking back to the store and Ms. Smiley stealing awkward glances at me, I stopped and turned towards her. "What?" I asked, putting one hand on my hip.

"Nothing, well." With a sigh she looked up at me. "If I may ask, who is Fang?"

"What?" I asked- this time actually confused.

"When I first knocked, you called somebody Fang."

The blush that creeped up on my cheeks was completely involuntary as I explained with a voice that- I'm proud to say- was steady. "Fang, is a nickname for Adam."

"How so?" Ms. Smiley asked.

"He used to bite people," I explain in a rush. This explanation causes Fang chuckle. In reality, nobody knew why Fang choose his name (except Fang himself) and chances are nobody ever would.

"Actually," Fang said, "It was because when I was ten I watched Dracula and wanted to have fangs like him. Then when asked what nickname I wanted I thought 'What better way than to be called Fang?' and the name stuck."

Huh. Guess it was easier to find out then I thought.

As Fang's arms wrapped around my waist he said, "Don't worry, the only person I bite is Max."

Yep, a very slow and painful death- one the whitecoats would be proud of.

After Ms. Smiley looked at him for a moment she turned around and walked into the store. I, on the other hand, removed Fang's arms and turned around and glared at him. "The only person I bite is Max?" I growled.

Fang rolled his eyes (which only got me angrier). "We're supposed to act like we're married, Max, and as much as you'd like to pretend they don't, married people _do_ have sex."

"That doesn't mean you have to advertise it to everybody!"

"Dammit Max!" Fang muttered, pacing around in a circle before stopping and running a hand down his face. "Can't we just do things my way for once."

"In case you didn't notice, the whole reason we're here is because we did it _your_ way."

"Then do this to. Please."

After thirty seconds of me standing there tapping my foot with my arms across my chest, I rolled my eyes and muttered resentfully, "Fine." They say marriage is all about give and take but so far I've been giving a whole lot more then taking.

"Thank you," Fang whispered in my ear, wrapping his arms around me. When I still hadn't returned the gesture Fang started kissing my neck slowly. You know, I think that I'm actually starting to miss the old Fang- you know, the one who always did what I asked, when I asked.

With a groan, I wrapped my arms around Fang and said, "Happy?"

"Yes," he answered with that cocky smirk. Right when he leaned down to give me another kiss, Ms. Smiley came running out of the store with five shopping bags and was near hysterics. "There goes that impeccable timing again," he muttered

"There goes that big word again." He glared half-hearted at me before turning to Ms. Smiley and asking what was wrong.

"It's gone!" she cried.

"What do you mean?" Fang asked, clearly as confused as I felt. "My clothes are right there." Fang pointed at the five shopping bags filled with every color in the rainbow except black. That was when I remembered how I stole her wallet to buy Fang's clothes. The same wallet that was still in my pocket.

"Oh, I know, I managed to get the clothes for free, but only because I don't have my wallet! I lost my wallet!"

Oh, crap.


	6. I am a Complete Idiot

**I am a Complete Idiot**

After Fang had managed to calm Ms. Smiley down, I had time to completely freak-out and was now trying to think of a plan that would give end up with her having the wallet. Here are the choices I came up with:

1.) Admit to having it, apologize, and give it back.

2.) Pretend to be completely clueless, then at some point slip it in her pocket.

3.) Completely freak-out and make an idiotic decision that I will regret as soon as I realize what I did.

Can you guess which one I picked? If you said 3, you would be correct.

I- being my typical always-has-a-plan-maybe-not-a-_good_-plan self- said, "Oh my God! It's Jimmy Shoe!" Since I have no idea what or who Jimmy Shoe is, point to the farthest male person I see. Unfortunately that happens to be some poor, unsuspecting, male who is tying his shoes and doesn't realize that he will soon be attacked by a hyperactive, 5' 2'' woman wearing heals that make her 5' 7''.

Before she runs over to him, she manages to tell me half-heartedly, "It's Jimmy _Choo, _Max." I have to give her props though: anyone who can run that fast in high heals carrying five bags of clothes deserves some respect.

After she is half way to the said male, I took out the wallet and threw it at Fang. Not the smartest move, I admitted, but the only one I could think of. Fang- never one to just take what I give him- threw it back at me after he realized what it is. I, of course, threw it back at him, and so on and so forth... Until Ms. Smiley turned around and walked over to us. Fang, making another idiotic move- but still smarter than mine-, turned around and threw the wallet in the opposite direction of Ms. Smiley.

When she made it back to us, she scowled at me, and said, "That was_ not_ Jimmy Choo, and thanks to you, I just made a completely fool of myself and still don't have my wallet!"

"Um," Fang started, "I think your wallet is over there." Fang points in the direction he threw the wallet.

"Why would it be over there?" Ms. Smiley asked, scowling at what looked like a homeless person.

"I have a feeling." I couldn't help the snort that left my nose. While Fang looked slightly amused, Ms. Smiley glared at me.

"I know, I know," I muttered, "snorting isn't lady like." _But who said I was a lady?_ I added in my head. After Ms. Smiley finally got over being five feet within the homeless guy's space everything worked out okay, Ms. Smiley found the wallet, thanked Fang over and over, and we went to the food court where the others were. Let's just say, I _knew_ we shouldn't have left them alone.

When we got there, Iggy was wearing bright yellow pants that were poofy, a neon pink shirt that said, "I don't know what you're problem is, but I bet it's long and hard to pronounce."

The Gasman was wearing army boots, bright green shorts (no idea how he got his hands on those), and a neon pink shirt (like Iggy's) that said, "What am I? Flypaper for freaks?!"

Angel and Nudge were actually dressed appropriately- except for the skirts that came up to their butts and black spandex pants. That's not the worst of it. Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel were having a food fight- scaring everybody in the food court- while Nudge was screaming at the top of her lungs because Iggy 'accidentally' hit her with pudding.

"What the heck is going on here?!" I screamed. Everybody stopped and looked at me- even the people who were watching from the sidelines. It was so quiet I heard Gazzy gulp. "Iggy," I growled, "and Gazzy. Get _off,_ the tables." They did it silently, their expressions conveyed that they thought if they made a sound, I would bite their heads off. They might have been correct.

"Now would anyone like to tell me what you were just doing?" The kids frantically looked at each other, trying to get the one of them to talk.

Iggy, being the brave- or incredibly stupid- one, stepped up, and whispered, "We were having a food fight."

"What Iggy? I can't hear you."

"I said, we were having a food fight." This time Iggy said it loudly, still not meeting my eyes- which is weird, because he can't even see me.

"And why, were you having a food fight?"

Iggy looked up at me, with the perfect imitation of 'a deer in the headlights' expression. "It was all Gazzy's idea!" Iggy shouted pointing at the Gasman.

"What?" Gazzy asked. "It was all Angel!" Then they started arguing.

"Guys," Fang said. "Guys," he repeated a little louder. "Guys!" Fang shouted, effectively getting their attention. Considering the fact Fang _never_ raised his voice- instead opting for the silent yelling that is ten times more freaky-the flock completely froze and turned to look at us. "You guys are in so much trouble," Fang whispered, now going for the freaky calm thing. Gazzy's eyes were so big, I thought they would have fallen out of his head.

"But- but," Gazzy whimpered.

"Everybody, out now," I growled, glaring at all of my flock excluding Fang. Fang followed my lead and growled a little.

"Come on man!" Iggy shouted in desperation. "You're only taking her side because you like her! What happened to bros before hoes?"

This time, I was the one to growl. "Did you just call me a hoe?" I asked, going for Fang's tactic of scary calm.

As soon as Iggy realized that his plan to escape punishment backfired, his 'deer in the headlights' expression came back, and instead of answering, said, "Come on guys, lets go to the car."

With a cheshire cat smile, Nudge replied, "Told you you shouldn't have thrown that pudding." And off they went to the car, Fang, Ms. Smiley, and I following.

* * *

"I can't believe you guys did that!" I screamed at the Flock- not including Fang, who was leaning against the wall and was glaring at them-, pacing back and forth in front of Iggy, the Gasman, Angel, and Nudge. After we had made it to the hotel, I personally dragged them up to Fang's and my room to lecture them, for once, Fang was on my side. "Do you realize what could have happened if someone from the School saw you?"

"Really guys," Fang said, backing me up. "That was immature, childish and irresponsible. I thought we had taught you all better." I almost smiled when I realized the old routine he had done.

When we were living in the E shape house after Jeb left, Fang and I had a little trouble controlling the flock. Everyone was sad all the time, and Iggy and the Gasman had started acting out- blowing things up, leaving for days at a time. The only good thing that came out of those days, was that Fang had figured out the speeches that made the flock behave and didn't.

'I hate you,' didn't.

'God, what is wrong with you,' didn't.

'Who do you think you are,' only works when really, really angry or suffering amnesia.

'I thought you were more responsible then this,' did.

'What did you hope to accomplish by insert-trouble-making-activity-here,' did.

'You betrayed my trust,' only works when the person did something really bad.

After Fang had come up with this method, he and I took turns taking phrases of the speech- it had actually gotten easier giving the speeches, and Iggy and Gazzy stopped disappearing. Unfortunately, they still blew things up.

Fang now walked up to me and out his hands on my shoulders- successfully stopping my pacing. I knew the line I was supposed to deliver, and put on my best sad/betrayed face.

"Guys, Fang and I are really disappointed with you."

They all looked up at us, and I swear Angel was going to cry. "We're so sorry!" Angel cried, jumping up from the bed and hugging me around the waist. "We promise we'll never, ever, ever, ever, do that again!" The rest of the flock nodded their heads eagerly.

"Fine," Fang said. "You guys are forgiven, but I don't think we can trust you guys like we did before. Now get out of here," Fang finished with a small smile, nodding his head by the door.

All of the little kids raced out of the door, while Iggy walked up to us and asked with a smirk, "I thought you guys were done giving those speeches?" Fang: 0, Iggy: 1.

"So did we," Fang answered. "Then we found you guys having a food fight in a mall." Fang: 1, Iggy: 1.

Iggy smirked and walked out to the door, stopping short and turning to us. "I can see your point... But I still think you are full of it."

He ran out of the room before I could kill him.

***---***---***---***---***

Sorry it took me so long to update. Remember how my brother deleted all of my chapters as a practical joke, then I got him back? Well, he took it a step futher. The day I was going to start school and post all the chapters for every story I had, he took my computer and threw it off the top of our house. It is broken, and my parents promised to get me a new one. Don't fret, I will still try to update regularly and get my brother back on this prank war. I was thinking putting Nair in his shampoo...


	7. Who knew three words were so troublesome

**Who knew three words were so troublesome?**

"Max? Fang?" Ms. Smiley called through our door. "We're going to go to dinner in an hour! We'll meet in the lobby. Oh, and Fang? How about you wear some of the clothes I bought you?"

Fang groaned from his spot above me. Before Ms. Smiley had rudely interrupted us- _again- _Fang and I were sharing a few kisses on the bed. Okay, a lot of kisses.

"Come on, Fang. The clothes can't be _that_ bad." After I had gotten over my lust for Iggy's blood and calmed down long enough to think, I decided that I would keep the black clothes I had bought for Fang a secret, so when the time came for the clothes to be unveiled, Fang would- hopefully- be to thankful to notice the single white shirt I had bought.

"You haven't seen the clothes I'm going to be wearing," Fang muttered, resting his head on my shoulder.

"Actually, I have." Then I not-so-gently pushed Fang off of me and ran to the place I stashed the clothes. Pulling out one of the black shirts, I held it up for Fang to see.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Fang repeated like a mantra while walking up to me and kissing my cheek. "You're the best girlfriend ever."

With a snort I replied, "I know." When he reached for the shirt and the bag, I pulled then out of his reach.

"What? Max, come on. Give it to me."

"I will," I started, loving the Iggy-approved plan I formulated in my head, "after you try on all the clothes Ms. Smiley got for you."

"Who's Ms. Smiley?" Fang asked.

"Of course you'd focus on _that_ part of the sentence." With a sigh, I continued. "Ms. Smiley is Ms. Plum."

"In that case, no."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes, or you have to wear her outfits in public."

With a glare and a defeated look, he muttered a fine and a 'worst girlfriend ever', grabbed the colorful bags Ms. Smiley bought and walked into the bathroom.

* * *

We walked hand-in-hand down the stairs into the lobby- me humming a happy tune, Fang silently fuming. Let's just say my reaction wasn't what he wanted (i.e. me laughing: bad.)

"Cheer up, Fang."

He grunted.

"Come on, Fang. Is it really that hard to talk?"

He grunted

"How old are you? Five?"

He grunted.

"Great now you've got _me_ in a bad mood."

He grunted.

"Say something!"

With a sigh, he stopped us and turned me to look at him. "Sometimes I contemplate murder."

I glowered at him. "Is that supposed to mean something? And what is it with you and big words today? First impeccable then contemplate."

Before Fang answered my questions, he looked up at the ceiling and muttered so quietly I almost didn't hear, "I can't believe this. And I wonder why I love her." My heart froze and my breathes started coming out faster. Did he just say he loved me? Does he mean it, or is he just saying it for effect? What do I do? Should I say it back? What is he wasn't talking about me?

Even though I didn't notice this because I was too busy hyperventilating, Fang was doing close to the same- I mean, as close as someone like _Fang_ could get to hyperventilating. This is what was probably going through his head: Did I really say that _out loud? _God kill me before Max does.

Okay... Maybe not- but I'm not the mind reader in the Flock.

"Fang," I choked out. "Fang, I love-" Before I finished, thousands of possibilities that all end in him refusing me and leaving clouded my mind. "-this shirt your wearing," I finished lamely.

"You should," Fang said not even bothering to keep the hurt and disappointment out of his voice. "You did pick it out."

I kissed Fang lightly on the lips- hoping that it will be enough to make up for the hurt, but knowing nothing will ever be enough (except maybe declaring my undying love for him in a public place).

"I'll meet you down in the lobby," Fang said, turning away from me but not before I could see the wetness in his eyes.

After Fang left, I stared at the place he once was and whispered, "I love you, too."

* * *

When I was finally got to the lobby, Fang was sitting on a couch between Angel and Nudge. Iggy was talking quietly to Gazzy while Ms. Smiley stood next to them, rolling her eyes every few seconds.

Before I even made it to the couch Fang was sitting on, he stood up and smiled a dazzling smile that would have made my knees week if I hadn't been able to see the slight sliver of hurt in his eyes.

"Thank God, you're here, Max!" Fang called to me, making a few heads turn in our direction before turning back to there previous spots. "You should have seen the way Nudge and Ms. _Plum _yelled at me when they saw what I was wearing." After he finally reached me, he pulled me into a passionate kiss that made me feel like I _had_ said I love you. I knew what this kiss was actually saying though- and it almost brought tears to my eyes. It was saying, I love you even if you don't love me and I'll be to waiting for you.

It made me feel loved.

It made me feel special.

It made me feel wanted.

It made me feel selfish.

Who did I think I was to just take his love and not give any in return? Why didn't he just yell at me? Why did he have to be so... Perfect?!

"God, get a room you two," I heard Iggy mutter. I debated whether I should argue with him, or continue kissing Fang... _Tough choice,_ I thought sarcastically, deepening the kiss between Fang and I more, trying to show without words that I truly did love him even if I couldn't say it.

When we broke away I heard Ms. Smiley sigh and say, "I wish I had a relationship that was half as loving as yours." A small smile was playing at the corner of her lips as she remembered all of her previous love-scapades. Angel's horrified expression just helped confirm my suspicions. "Well, that's the past! Let's go live in the present!" Ms. Smiley- get this- _smiled_ and marched us of towards the awaiting limo.

* * *

Turns out, Ms. Smiley's 'living in the present' isn't exactly like I thought it would be. I thought, having a nice dinner, enjoy each others company, maybe going out and dancing in some square with a live band, see some movie premiere you would normally never see. I mean, isn't that what _normal_ people do? If so, Ms. Smiley is about as normal as we are.

First thing we did, was go to Burger King. Don't get me wrong, I love 'the King', it's helped me through some never-sure-if-you're-going-to-live times. But it's not really something I expected Ms. Smiley to enjoy. Because trust me, she was pigging out. Before I knew she was done eating, she started pulling us towards thousands of art galleries. Then we went dancing. Well, not _we_ per se. _She_. When I heard the word 'club' I faked chest pain and dragged the others back to the hotel.

After we had successfully made it back to the hotel we stacked fists and said goodnights.

As soon as Fang shut our hotel room door, he started groaning and covering his eyes with his hands.

"What?" I asked. "Are you hurt?" When I tried to get closer to him though he grabbed my hands and looked me directly in the eye.

"Promise me, Max, that no matter what, you will never drag me to another art gallery."

With a roll of my eyes, I yanked my hands back, turned to my bag full of clothes and called over my shoulder to Fang, "I'm going to take a shower!"

When I got into the bathroom, I did the normal stuff- wash myself, brush my teeth- but afterwards I stared at myself in the mirror. Not criticizing myself like normal girls my age might, just looking, wondering slightly, what did I do to deserve Fang?

No, I get why he loved me (and yes I realize how conceited that sounded), I was strong, fierce, fearless Maximum Ride. My name strikes terror into whitecoats and hope into experiments (I hope anyway). But, I wondered silently, am I really that person?

I'm strong, but others are stronger. I'm fierce, but Angel makes me melt. I'm fearless in everything except losing my family. Even if that fear is irrational in the most obvious way.

Like saying I love you.

I know that Fang wouldn't leave if I told him I loved him- in fact that might make our bond stronger. Some part of me is afraid that when I tell him I love you, one day he'll decide that I'm not the strong, fierce, fearless person he thought I was. I'm afraid that then, he won't love me- and that's worse then him leaving me. I also know that doesn't make sense. Birds mate for life, and we have bird DNA. Fang has already told me that he has chosen me, which means I'm his mate, right?

_God,_ I thought bitterly, _I'm making this _way_ to complicated. Fang loves me, and I love him. That simple. Now go out there and tell him!_

_Oh no,_ I thought again with a weird feeling of dread, _I'm really starting to talk to myself! _

With newfound confidence, I pulled open the door walked out into the room, to see Fang lounging on the bed in a pair of American flag boxers Ms. Smiley got him (one of the few things Fang actually liked) and a black T-Shirt. At some point in looking at him, I lost all that confidence I had gained.

"Took you long enough," Fang muttered. "I thought you had fallen in the toilet or something."

"I'm going to ignore that comment." Fang grinned at me and patted my side of the bed.

After I had gotten settled in the bed and snuggled up to Fang, I took the opportunity to ask him, "Why aren't you taking a shower tonight?"

"You were taking too long and I decided to take one in the morning."

"M'kay," I mummered. Before we finished the show, we turned of the T.V. and went under the sheets. Fang drew me closer to him, wrapping his arms around me and laying his head on top of mine.

"Goodnight," I whispered to him.

"Goodnight Max," Fang whispered back. "I love you." It was obvious from his tone that he didn't expect me to answer, and I desperately wanted to prove him wrong. To whisper I love you back to him.

But once again, I fell silent. Only when Fang was dead asleep did I allow myself to whisper those four words. "I love you, too."


	8. So We Meet Again

**So We Meet Again**

"We need to go to New York today," Ms. Smiley told us at breakfast the next morning. "Now that we've got your make-overs done, it's time to meet the other contestants."

With a sigh, I thought about all the other people I would have to meet and get along with- not including the other contestants. I mean, I could handle one Ms. Smiley (barely) but I don't know if I could handle five more. At least with the contestants I don't have to be nice to them.

"What time?" Fang asked.

Ms. Smiley had the decency to look nervous. "In about an hour."

Normally, that wouldn't be a problem- I mean we have had to pack at a moments notice before, but that was when we only had two outfits, not a whole wardrobe.

"What?!" Nudge so eloquently yelled. Several of the people in tables close by looked at her before turning their heads back to their food. She continued more quietly. "How are we supposed to pack and get to the airport in an hour? It can't be done!"

When Ms. Smiley grimaced, I decided I should take over from here. "Well, you could start by packing," I said looking at each of them in the eye. That is all the flock needs before they stand up and run out of the restaurants. The Gasman- who was busy looking at something under the table (probably a bomb)- was the only member of the Flock (other then me) who is still sitting at the table.

"Huh?" the Gasman questioned, looking up at all the empty seats.

"They left to pack," I replied.

"Why?"

"Because we're getting on a plane in an hour."

"Oh," Gazzy mummered, looking at me in a bit of expectancy.

I rolled my eyes and held out my hand. "If you insist," I muttered under my breath. He planted the bomb in my hand before he ran off to join the others.

"Is that- is that a _bomb?" _Ms. Smiley cried, the most distressed look on her face. Like she couldn't believe an eight year old could do that.

"No, of course not," I lied. "It's my alarm clock." Then I stood up and made my way out to the alley where I spread my wings and flew.

* * *

For some reason, I didn't really realize that we would be getting onto a plane and flying to New York until it was time to board the plane.

Then I started to really freak out- even if I was in first class.

"I thought you were acting too calm," Fang told me reaching for the hand that was gripping the armrest with all my strength. "I thought that someone might have slipped you some Valium during breakfast."

For a second I smiled, until I remembered that that was the first (and hopefully not the last) time I had said 'I love you' to Fang. Fang seemed to be thinking the same thing based on the slight look of pain that crossed his face.

Forgetting completely about the fact that I was on a plane, I reached out and caught his face before he could turn it away from me. Carefully I removed my hand from his face and with my eyes still locked with his, I wanted to whispered the words that we both remembered. "This much," I would say, moving my hands the same way I had in my memory. "I love you this much."

But we all know that that isn't how I do things. So we just stared at each other a long time before Fang reached out and moved the arm rest up. Then, he moved over into my seat and wrapped me in his arms.

"I get it, Max," he whispered. "I really get it. Take as much time as you want. I'll be here."

For some reason, that was better then my imagination could ever think of.

There in Fang's arms, I was calm, I was safe, I was wanted- and I was on a plane, which didn't even occur to me. Fang is my own kind of Valium.

* * *

When we finally got to New York, I was still in Fang's arms- something the flight attendants weren't to happy about.

"You know," I whispered to Fang as we were getting off the plane, "I actually didn't mind that flight."

"Neither did I," he whispered back. "Weird." I smiled at him before Iggy's voice broke through our moment.

"Would the love birds- pun intended- please stop yodeling and start focusing on looking for Nora."

Nora, Ms. Smiley, Ms. Plum- this person had a unusual amount of names.

I turned from Fang and scanned the large group of people.

"I don't see her," Fang said.

"Me neither," I admitted.

"Well I can't see, so what do we do now?" Iggy added, his pale blue eyes moving frantically. "I don't remember New York being this loud," he muttered quietly, flexing the finger he put through Fang's belt loop.

"Let's go get our luggage and-"

That was when something (or someone) touched my butt- no, _grabbed_ my butt.

"What the hell!" I yelled, turning around.

"Well, well, well. I never thought I'd see you again!" Standing there, the same look of slyness and playfulness in his eyes, was Dr. Prober or- as I like to call him now- The-Idiot-That-Was-Stupid-Enough-To-Put-A-Hello-Kitty-Band-Aid-On-My-Head. Aka, Dead.

_"You!" _I growled.

"It's nice to see you too."

"What are you doing here?"

"I got dragged into doing camera work for a show. So here I am." He smiled a bigger smile at me. "Now what are you doing here? That eager to put my head on a stake?"

"No," Fang said from his spot beside me, carefully wrapping his arm around my waist. "She's here with her husband."

"Oh." He blinked for a second as if realizing that Fang was standing right next to me. "Well, it makes sense that a women that beautiful wouldn't stay on the market that long."

Iggy- never one to stay quiet in a stressful situation- put his fair share of talking down. "You know, I think you might be the one that's blind."

Iggy might have well as not said anything at all, because Dead didn't even spare him a glance. "If," he glances at Fang before leaning a bit closer to me. "If it doesn't work out- or if you just want to have a good time, give me a call." He then hands me his card with the name of Algernon Winston at the top of the card. "You can call me Algy."

Before I could say anything, he disappeared in the crowd.

"Fat chance," Fang said, easily snatching the card out of my hand and tearing it into little pieces.

"Let's just find everybody," Iggy said, moving his sightless eyes around the crowded room once more before adding, "I don't want to meet any more dysfunctional men who think Max is cute."

"The last time you saw me, I was six!" I glowered.

"Wrong. On the boat to Antarctica. You didn't look so hot then. No pun intended."

"Let's just find the others."

Iggy snorts. "Finally she sees it the blind guys way."

***---***---***---***---***

_Sorry it took me so long to update. After my brother was found bald (the Nair did it's job) they decided that it would be the perfect time for a family bonding moment. Most commonly known as road trip. With no electronics- other then the car. As you can probably guessed, it worked perfectly. Me and my brother made up, and are know best friends. Yeah. And I grew wings and found out I was Max and Fang's daughter from the future. No. It went disastrously. So now I have half of my hair chopped off (long story) and all of my books have been torn up. I hate my brother._


	9. Proof

**Proof**

"I _never_ want to go to fly to that airport again!" I cried, throwing my bag down.

Fang shut the door to our room. After we had found Ms. Smiley and the rest of the flock (they were the ones by the limo) we drove to the hotel and got our room keys.

"Well, JFK airport isn't know for it's efficiency," Fang agreed.

"Then what is it known for?" I asked, falling down on the bed.

"That is a question," Fang followed my lead and fell on the bed too, "that I am not prepared to answer."

I turned over to look at him. "Seriously, when did you get so smart?"

"I'm not smart," Fang said.

"Could've fooled me," I muttered.

"Really! I'm not that smart."

"Right."

"Max!"

"No, I completely agree with you. You are just a big lump of brainless matter."

Fang sighed and looked at me. "How long did it take you to think of that?"

I counted to ten under my breath, trying to get my anger under control before I did something I would regret, like say, rip his head off. "None of your business!" I growled at him.

Fang opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, somebody knocked on the door.

"Hello?" a gruff voice asked. "Uh, could Adam and... Susan open the door?"

With a look towards Fang saying, _This conversation isn't over, _I opened the door.

Standing there was a tall wiry man who faintly reminded me of Iggy- only thirty years older. And with thinning brown hair. And with a bit of a belly.

"Oh," he said startled. "Hi." He reached up to his forehead and wiped of some of the sweat that had gathered there all while keeping his eyes on my knees.

"Hi," I replied, eyeing him warily.

"Um, I'm Abraham." He glanced briefly up at me before returning to my knees. "But you can call me Baby." His eyes widened and he started ringing his hands. "I-I m-m-mean A-a-b-by." He looked up at me again, and wiped the sweat off his brow again.

"Well. Aby. What, uh, brings you here?" I desperately looked for Fang, only to find him behind me.

He hit his head with the palm of his hand. "Sorry. I'm the script writer for the Newlywed Game. I-I was picked to talk to you about your wedding certificate and picture."

I stopped breathing. "My what?"

"Your-your wed-wedding certificate. And p-p-picture." He reached up again and whipped his eyebrow again. "We-we need proof th-that you are ac-actually married, and we pl-plan on using your wedding pic-picture if you get to the final r-r-r-r-"

"Round?" Fang finished from behind me. Abraham nodded furiously.

Fang smiled slightly, taking the door from my hands that were frozen in shock. "We'll be sure to give those to you as soon as we can." Then Fang closed the door.

As soon as he did, I collapsed. "Max!?" Fang yelled quietly, quickly catching me. "Max are you okay?"

I started muttering, "I knew this was a bad idea, I knew this was a bad idea-"

"Everything will work out, Max!"

"How! Fang we don't have a wedding picture and we're not actually married! Oh God, I knew this was a bad idea!"

"Max," Fang said calmly, "I'm sure we can get Nudge to forge us a wedding certificate and wedding picture."

* * *

"Yeah, I can do that," Nudge said, leaning back in her chair and folding her hands on top of her nonexistent belly, "but what are you going to give me?"

I growled, "We're going to let you keep living with us."

She smirked. "Then no, I won't do it for you."

"Nudge!" I cried. "Don't make me hurt you!"

"What Max means to say," Fang insisted, "is what do you want?"

"I want to get a hair cut and go to a movie theater and a book store and buy all the books I want."

"Nudge-"

Fang interrupted me, "Nudge we agree."

"What? No we don't!"

"Yes we do."

Nudge smiled at Fang. "Great, I'll get started."

* * *

"Uh-oh," Nudge whispered.

I started from my perch beside the window. "Uh-oh? What do you mean uh-oh?"

"Well..." She pauses and looks up at us.

After a while, Fang gets tired at waiting. "What is it, Nudge?"

"Remember when I said that I could get a picture and a certificate of your marriage?"

"Yes, Nudge," I said angrily. "That's the whole reason we're here."

"Well, I got the certificate nicely- not to great security, very easy to hack- but, um, I can't seem to get the picture to turn out."

While Fang grounded his teeth and rubbed the bridge of his nose, I took control of the situation. "That is an uh-oh. What do you suppose we do then?"

Nudge flinched. "I don't know."

Before either Fang or I could attack her, someone knocked on the wall between the rooms.

"Guys," Iggy shouted through the thick walls of the hotel room. "I couldn't help but over hear your conversation since I am, ya know, blind, and I heard from some of the other guests that there is this photo place that takes pictures of people dressed up as other people. Like maybe a bride and groom." I could practically hear his eyebrows wiggle.

"That is-" Fang started his face concentrated, "-a brilliant idea!"

I smiled slightly. Maybe Fang would be right. Maybe everything would work out.


	10. Never Again

**Never Again**

"No," I said, glaring at the dress.

"Max," Fang said. "You have to wear a white dress. At least to try to make it look like a wedding picture."

"But that isn't a dress! It's a flimsy excuse of clothing!" Which was true.

Turns out that photo place, Iggy heard about didn't make you anyone you wanted to be. It had a strict 'Old Western' theme to it. Which means, Fang was a cowboy and I was a salon girl.

I have no idea how salon girls survived wearing things like this.

"Max," Fang growled, his eyes darkening with untold emotions.

"Okay, okay," I muttered, grabbing the only white dress before going into the dressing room.

After I had zipped it up, I couldn't help but think the dress was broken or something since my boobs were practically falling out of the corset- and I didn't have a lot of boob action.

I opened the door to the dressing room, hoping to inquire about the dress, when I heard a hiss. Looking up from my small (trust me, _small)_ dilemma I saw Fang sitting ramrod straight in a chair gazing at my chest.

The man who was going to take the picture glanced over at me, looked at my chest, nodded and turned back to the camera.

Sexist pig.

I turned my attention back to Fang, wondering why he was acting so strange before realizing.

Oh my, _two_ sexist pigs.

Soon to be three as I realized what Fang was wearing.

Lets just say he would make a _great_ cowboy.

The camera man looked up again and glanced between us, before muttering- what I think sounded like, "Save a horse, ride a cowboy."

I whole heartedly agreed with that.

Then I realized what I thought.

No! I would not be a sexist pig. That was Iggy's job. I would just be...

Oh, hell. I wanted to ride a cowboy.

Before I wasted anymore time in this dress, I walked to where Fang was and stood next to him.

The camera man looked up at us. "Come on," he said. "This is supposed to be your wedding picture, pretend you guys like each other at least."

Fang put his hand on my waist.

Camera man rolled his eyes before walking to us and practically shoved me onto Fang's lap. "There." He walked back to the camera before taking pictures of us.

I couldn't get comfortable though. There was something poking me in the back and I wanted it gone.

Fang's arms tightened around me. "Stop moving," Fang whispered to me.

"I can't!" I whispered back. "There's something poking me in the-" I cut off suddenly when I realized exactly what it was. "Oh," I whispered.

"Oh," Fang repeated.

I blushed, resisting the urge to bury my head in his shoulder and pretend that never happened.

Fang looked down at me, and I looked up at him blushing deeper. Then he started laughing. At first I pretended to be angry, but I couldn't help it- I started laughing too.

While I was laughing, Fang caught my face in his hand, and with the most loving look on his face, he whispered, "I love you."

Instead of getting all panicked like on the plane and in the hotel room, I smiled at him, hoping to convey with my eyes, I was indeed in love with him too. With a slight sigh (a happy one), I whispered back, "I love you, too."

Fang's smile was blinding. He leaned down and started kissing me, forgetting all about the Camera Man (who told us later, he spent the next few minutes trying to get our attention).

* * *

"That was nice," I said, wrapping my arms around Fang once we were done with the photo shop. We were with the rest of the flock now (we made them wait outside).

"I have to say, I really did like your dress," Fang whispered, wrapping his arms around me too.

I sighed, pulling away to look at the picture we had gotten. The Camera Man was great at taking pictures, I had to say. We ended up getting the one of us, smiling and laughing (it was much better then the ones in the beginning which looked like we were being held there against our will) and I had to say, it looked great.

"I love you," Fang said, looking down at me.

"I love you, too," I replied, raising an eyebrow at the sudden show of love.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that."

While I laughed out loud, Fang caught me in a kiss.

"Okay, guys, really!" Gazzy said, trying to get in between us and break us apart. We ignored him.

After a few seconds, Fang turned away from me, grabbed my hand, and maneuvered us to the edge of the street before hailing a cab.

When we got in the (surprisingly nice) cab, the driver turned his head towards the window and covered his mouth with his hand.

"Hey," he said in an obviously fake voice, "welcome."

My first thought was, MURDERER!

Right when I was about to act on my gut feeling, the man turned around and- smiling- yelled, "Welcome to the Cash Cab!" The ceiling began to light up in different colors and music began playing.

I admit, I wasn't very excited. In fact, my first response was: "What the hell?"

Fang was no better. At first he responded like I did with the whole 'murderer' idea, then when the guy said 'Cash Cab' he bursted out laughing. Like actual laughing.

"Cash Cab," he mummered. "Funny!"

Iggy was muttering something that sounded like. "Don't you know, it's not nice to prank the blind guy."

Gazzy and Nudge looked excited. "I saw this show on T.V!" Nudge shouted.

"So did I!" Gazzy yelled, turning to Nudge before giving a girl like shriek.

Angel was calm.

The driver gave us weird looks. I couldn't blame him.

When Fang finally stopped laughing, he turned to the guy and said, "You're serious?"

"Yes. Cash Cab is a game show that takes place in this cab. The game is that I pick up random passagers and they have to answer the questions I ask them. The rules are simple: the game lasts as long as the ride to the destination you say, and I drive you there. While we are driving, I ask you guys a series of trivia questions. The first four are worth 25 dollars, the next four are worth 50, and all the rest are worth 100.

"If you guys get three questions wrong, you get thrown out of the cab. Anything money you get, you get to keep and spilt between the two of you."

He stared at us a while. I was eyeing him like a crazy person, and Fang was still trying to figure out if he was serious.

"So do you want to play?" the man asked us.

I turned to Fang (who looked like he wanted to burst out laughing again) and gave him a questioning look.

"Sure," Fang said, ignoring the little giggle that came out at the end. "We'll play."

"Great," I muttered. So much for us deciding together.

"Awesome," the guy said. "I'm Bailey. Oh, and I forgot to mention, you guys get two 'shout outs'. The first is when you can call someone and asked them a question, the second is a street shout out where I pull over the cab and you can ask someone a question. Got it?"

"Got it!" the Gasman screamed.

"So where do you want to go to?"

"The Belle Air hotel," I said.

"Okay," Bailey said. "First question. Collectively, Pavarotti, Domingo, and Carreras are better known as what singing trio?"

"Oh that's easy," Iggy answered. "The three tenors."

I think everyone in the cab (except Bailey) turned to look at Iggy.

"That is..." Bailey said, "correct! You just won 25 dollars!"

Fang laughed again. "So weird!" he muttered.

"Next question!" Bailey said. "Okay. In the Hans Christian Andersen story, what tiny item did the Princess feel through a stack of mattresses?"

"Pea," I said with no pause. When Fang looked at me, I defended, "I had to read it to Angel when she was little!"

"Correct! Next question. From 1990 until they went to the Euro, the Deutsche Mark was the official currency of what country?"

We looked at each other. Fang shifted a little. "Back at the house," Fang began, "Jeb taught me a little German, and Deutsche Mark definitely sounds like a German currency."

While the rest of the flock blinked at him, I turned around and said to the driver, "Germany!"

The Gasman glared at me. "We don't even know if that is-"

"Correct!" Bailey yelled. "You now have 75 dollars."

"Yay!" Gazzy yelled before hugging Fang from the backseat. "I knew you were right!"

Bailey asked, "In Bill Waterson's popular comic strip, what is the name of Calvin's stuffed Tiger?"

"Hobbes," Angel said from the back seat. "Total told me all about the strip."

"Correct!" Bailey said. "Now we move onto the 50 dollar questions. What chairman of Microsoft allegedly receives about 4 million e-mails a day?"

Nudge rolls her eyes. "Bill Gates. Duh."

"Correct! Reportedly, Bill Cliton used what poet's "leaves of Grass" to woo both Hillary and Monica?"

After a few seconds of pointless staring at each other, I said, "Can we use out phone shout out?"

"Sure," Bailey said. "Who do you want to call?"

"Our d-friend, Total."

"Okay, you have 1 minute to call him."

I took out my cell phone and called mom.

"Max?" my mom asked.

"Yeah, Mom, can you put Total on the phone?"

"Sure."

"Hello," a male voice said.

"Hey, Total. We're in the Cash Cab and we need your help."

"Okay, ask away."

" Reportedly, Bill Cliton used what poet's "leaves of Grass" to woo both Hillary and Monica?"

"Simple. Walt Whitman. Idiot."

I gritted my teeth to ignore the insult. "Thanks. Bye."

"Walt Whitman," I said to Bailey.

"Correct! You know have 150 dollars. Unfortunately, we are now at your destination."

"Okay, thanks!" I said. He handed me 150 dollars before, taking it back before I could hold it.

"Now here's the thing," he started. "You can-"

"We'll take the money," I said grabbing it and getting out of the car.

While Bailey looked shocked, the rest of the flock got up and out of the car.

"Bye Bailey," the Gasman said to him. "It was nice meeting you."

I taught them well.

* * *

_I added that last part for those of you who kept bothering me about the game show! Enjoy and Review. _


End file.
